Opening arguments to begin in corruption trial for Ridgefield mayor

Tyson Trish/The RecordRidgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez is escorted out of the FBI headquarters in Newark in 2009.

RIDGEFIELD — Opening arguments are scheduled to begin in federal court in Newark today in the corruption trial of Ridgefield Mayor Anthony R. Suarez, who was charged with taking bribes from the informant at the center of last year's massive FBI sting.

The 43-year-old Democrat is accused of taking $10,000 in exchange for promising to help the informant secure building approvals.

Suarez was charged along with 45 others in a money-laundering and bribery probe that ensnared five rabbis, three mayors and two state legislators.

Suarez is the last of those politicians still in office. Two others were convicted. Twenty defendants in the case have pleaded guilty.

They were all charged with help from Solomon Dwek, a one-time rabbinical student whose gift for schmooze and salesmanship made him the most prodigious informant ever to wear a wire in New Jersey. He began cooperating with the FBI in 2006 after being charged with a $50 million bank fraud.

Dwek worked his way across the state, wearing a tiny hidden video camera on his belly as he tried to talk rabbis into laundering money and convince public officials to take bribes.

Suarez and Vincent Tabbachino, a Guttenberg tax preparer who will be tried alongside Suarez, are charged with bribery, attempted extortion and extortion conspiracy. Tabbachino, 69, also is accused of helping Dwek launder $100,000, which the informant said came from selling knock-off designer handbags.

If convicted, Suarez and Tabbachino face up to 20 years in prison, according to Mark J. McCarren and Maureen Nakly, assistant U.S. attorneys.

RELATED VIDEO

Mayor Anthony Suarez leaves court as his lawyer makes a statement

Mayor Anthony Suarez leaves court as his lawyer makes a statemeRidgefield Borough Mayor Anthony Suarez leaves court after being charged with agreeing to accept a corrupt cash payment for his legal defense fund. Suarez's lawyer said they have seen no evidence yet and the government has only made an accusation. (Video by Michael Monday and John Munson/The Star-Ledger)